Utah/Western Colorado

Watch for Upcoming Events

Coming Up
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  • April 20 and 27, 2024: District New Member Development Workshops
    We are planning to hold this program in four locations around our district on two different dates and to have a virtual ZOOM option as well. We hope that each local unit’s leadership team will plan to have representatives at one of these events. We will walk through the
    “Welcoming Event Toolkit” and give your leadership team time to break out and discuss the various components and how you might use them, who you would like to invite to an event and how you can help integrate new members into your group following an event.
    This FREE half day gathering will be a great focused time for you to dream about increasing your membership and how to create an event that will make each attendee feel welcome and wanted. Mark your calendars and plan to join us!
      • Crossroads UMC in Grand Junction, CO: April 20 from 9:00 to Noon (will also be available via Zoom)
      • Glenwood Springs First UMC in Glenwood Springs, CO: April 20 from 9:00 to Noon
      • Tongan UMC in West Valley, UT: April 20 from 9:00 to Noon
      • Montrose First UMC in Montrose, CO: April 27 from 9:00 to Noon

 

  • May 9-11, 2024: Western Jurisdiction UWFaith Quadrennial Event

 

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Book Discussions 7:00pm on the second Thursday of each month via ZOOM

2024 Reading Program

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Thursday, March 14, 2024
One: Unity in a Divided World
by Deidra Riggs
Jesus didn’t say that the world would know we are his followers by our biting rhetoric, our political leanings, our charity work, or even by our knowledge of Scripture. He said the world would know us by our love for one another. Yet it’s so easy to put others at arm’s length, to lash out, to put up walls. Deidra Riggs wants us to put our focus on self-preservation aside and, like Jesus, make the first move toward reconciliation.
In One, Riggs shows readers that when Jesus offered himself up in our place, he was not only purchasing our salvation but also setting an example for us to follow. She helps readers understand that they are secure in God’s inexhaustible love, making them free to love others lavishly–not just in what they do but in what they say, what they don’t say, what they will endure, and what they will forgive.
Anyone who longs for unity in the church, in their family, and in their community will find in this book both inspiring examples of loving done well and encouragement to begin the often unnoticed hard work of building bridges with those around them.
Education for Mission (2019)
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Thursday, April 11, 2024
Our Strangely Warmed Hearts: Coming Out into God’s Call
by Karen Oliveto
As John Wesley discovered his true spiritual identity, he experienced a strangely warmed heart. Through poignant stories and well-reasoned principles, Karen Oliveto discloses why and how spiritual renewal and a personal call to ministry emerge in the strangely warmed hearts of lesbian and gay Christians.
In The United Methodist Church (and other Christian denominations), it is difficult or impossible for lesbian, gay, transsexual, and bisexual clergy or laity to become a visible and outward channel for God’s saving grace. This book traces the history of the church’s struggle with homosexuality, highlighting critical incidents in the culture and church polity which shape the church’s response. The issues are deeply rooted in the way God’s people understand scriptures, which are interpreted as a means of grace for some and as a rule-book for others. This book includes first-person narratives of LGBTQ persons faithfully serving in a denomination that denies their calls and—in some cases—their presence. These stories will show how the coming out process is deeply spiritual as one grows into an authentic, God-created and graced self.
Leadership Development (2024)
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Thursday, May 2, 2024**

The Seed Keeper: A Novel

by Diane Wilson

**please note that this month’s book discussion is taking place on the 1st Thursday of the month**
Rosalie Iron Wing has grown up in the woods with her father, Ray, a former science teacher who tells her stories of plants, of the stars, of the origins of the Dakhóta people. Until, one morning, Ray doesn’t return from checking his traps. Told she has no family, Rosalie is sent to live with a foster family in nearby Mankato—where the reserved, bookish teenager meets rebellious Gaby Makespeace, in a friendship that transcends the damaged legacies they’ve inherited.
On a winter’s day many years later, Rosalie returns to her childhood home. A widow and mother, she has spent the previous two decades on her white husband’s farm, finding solace in her garden even as the farm is threatened first by drought and then by a predatory chemical company. Now, grieving, Rosalie begins to confront the past, on a search for family, identity, and a community where she can finally belong. In the process, she learns what it means to be descended from women with souls of iron—women who have protected their families, their traditions, and a precious cache of seeds through generations of hardship and loss, through war and the insidious trauma of boarding schools.
Weaving together the voices of four indelible women, The Seed Keeper is a beautifully told story of reawakening, of remembering our original relationship to the seeds and, through them, to our ancestors.
Nurturing for Community (2024)
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Newsletters:

March 2024 Chronicles:
https://conta.cc/49PtacC
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February 2024 Chronicles:
https://conta.cc/3HFb0y1
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January 2024 Chronicles:
https://conta.cc/48EksNt
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December 2023 Chronicles:
https://conta.cc/47WDIpj
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November 2023 Chronicles:
https://conta.cc/49kSLuC
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October 2023 Chronicles:
https://conta.cc/3rAe9ea

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September 2023 Chronicles:
https://conta.cc/45sGjGt
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August 2023 Chronicles:
https://conta.cc/3YbF7o5 
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July 2023 Chronicles:
https://conta.cc/44oNlLC
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June 2023 Chronicles:
https://conta.cc/3WNjBW1
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March 2023 Chronicles:
https://conta.cc/3U1ZTV7
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February 2023 Chronicles:
https://conta.cc/3Y4Yv5C
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District Spiritual Life Retreat
“Come Away for A While”
September 14-15, 2023
District Annual Celebration hosted by Delta UWFaith
“A Home for All”
September 15-16, 2023
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Networking for Action and Fellowship
January 28, 2023  9:00am to Noon
Join your Utah/Western Colorado sisters on Zoom for a morning of learning and sharing. We will discuss the 2022-2023 Program Resource, 2023 Mission U Class, and Outreach to New Members.

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Utah/Western Colorado District United Women in Faith’s Annual Celebration  “WATER FOR ALL”
was held on September 16 – 17, 2022
“For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and blessings on your descendants.” – Isaiah 44:3
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Zoom Annual Gathering  –  October 3, 2020
You and all members of United Methodist Women are invited to the Annual Celebration of the Utah/Western Colorado District to be held Saturday – October 3rd. This is your official CALL to our ZOOM meeting. The theme for this event is: “Living into Wisdom” Keynote Speaker: Mary Ann Tabor, Conference Coordinator for Social Justice. A Grand ‘ol Tea Party we shall have!  If you’d like to wear your finest tea party hat, we’d love to see them.

The schedule for the Annual Celebration includes topics such as: “Mindfulness”, prayer beads, “Hats Off to UMW” and a business meeting. Bring a sack lunch, a cup of tea and join us for some fun!

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Hard Times

UMW District Budget 2019

The Call Part 7 – STANDING RULES 2019 BUDGET

Annual Meeting – Pagosa Springs – September 18-19, 2015: